Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 available 2 October

Samsung has finally, more than 6 months after it was first announced at CTIA in Orlando, revealed that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is available for pre-order, and it will hit the shops on 2 October in the States.

At just 8.6mm thick, Sammy's latest tab to market is skinnier than the iPad 2 and weighs in at just 470g. It has a 8.9-inch Gorilla Glass screen, with a 1280x800 WXGA display.

It packs an Nvidia Tegra 250 T20 1GHz dual core processor, includes a 3-megapixel camera on the back and a 2-megapixel on the front for video calling. It can playback 1080p video, and record 720p.

Connectivity is via USB, Wi-Fi, HSPA+ (21Mbps) and Bluetooth 3.0. On board storage is either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB and there's also a microSD option for expanding that if needs be.

The versions hitting soon are the Wi-Fi only ones. It's $569 for the 32GB version and $469 for the 16GB version. No word on a UK release as of yet, we'll keep you posted.

Sammy has also announced pre-order dates and availability for the Galaxy Player 5.0 and 4.0. They will be available for sale in the US starting 16 October. The Galaxy Player 5.0 will cost $269, while the Galaxy Player 4.0 will be $229.